Vettel quickest again in shortened final session

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in all three practice sessions for the Indian Grand Prix for the second year in a row.

The Red Bull driver set a quickest time of 1’25.332 early in the session, then spent the remaining laps doing a longer run on the softer tyres.

The start of practice was delayed for 20 minutes as thick smog at the track was impairing visibility, meaning the medical helicopter would be unable to take off in case of an emergency. That meant the session was cut to 40 minutes.

Mark Webber made it another one-two for Red Bull, though his best time was over half a second slower than Vettel’s.

Fernando Alonso was next for Ferrari, over three-quarters of a second slower than Vettel, with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber next.

The quickest Lotus was on fifth place, Romain Grosjean lapping a second off Vettel’s time. He made a mistake at turn eleven towards the end of the session and held up Lewis Hamilton as he returned to the track, spoiling the Mercedes driver’s run.

Paul di Resta was an encouraging seventh for Force India at their home event, the quickest Mercedes-powered runner.

During the session a Sauber driver hit one of the team’s mechanics during a pit stop. The team reported the mechanic suffered bruising in the incident.

I never said anything about wanting to see flat-out racing for 60 laps, However the level of tyre nursing in 2013 has been utterly pathetic.

Watching drivers driving around 3-4 seconds off the pace, been told not to get too close to the car ahead, Been told not to race the cars around them, Been told to drive to a pre-set delta time & been unable to even think about pushing is not racing, Its not fun to watch, Its not entertaining & its boring!

As to 2010, What was wrong with the racing that year? 5 title contenders until the final races, More on-track overtaking than any season since 1989 & closer on-track racing than had been seen for a while.
2010 was also the best rated F1 season on record in terms of TV ratings to that point so clearly a lot of people were enjoying it & it brought in more fans.

Mate, 2010 was the second best season after 2009. Now, they have ridiculous overtaking with DRS being badly placed on some circuits like SPA and Montreal. It’s ok for a driver to drive 3-4 secs off the pace for a few laps, but if it’s going to be the entire race to drive 3-4 secs off the pace, with not being able to race the car ahead, then that’s unreal. There’s got to be a time to race and a time to conserve tyres. Not just conserve tyres all the way from start to finish

Overtaking isn’t everything. In terms of strategy, 2010 was largely dead as Bridgestone brought compounds that were too durable. We were lucky that Red Bull tripped up so much and that it rained in a few races, otherwise it ould have been a very boring season indeed.

I don’t care about strategy, I’d rather all the focus be on the racing out on the track like it used to be in the days before refueling.

I remember watching F1 in the 70s/80s when there were zero pit stops & zero strategy & with all the focus on the racing its no surprise that the racing was better.

They don’t conserve tyres all the time

But they do for most of the race & thats the problem.

If they were only tyre nursing for 1 handful of laps then nobody would complain, Its the fact there doing it for most of the race thats got people unhappy about it this year.

If you go back to 2011 there was a lot less tyre nursing & nobody complained, Last year it got a bit worse & there was some criticism, This year tyre nursing has been the most important factor in most races & there has been even more complaints.

I suspect that because of the significant increase in the amount of team radio that we hear, this idea that strategic use of tires is due to the Pirelli’s is blown completely out of proportion.

Also I am not sure when are drivers 3-4 seconds off the pace? Sure in some situations a driver will not put up a fight because they are on a different strategy, but that is hardly Pirelli’s fault and would be the case regardless. Also the reason drivers are told to hold a gap the car in front is because it makes no sense to sit in dirty air, if you can’t get past. That has more to do with the aero regulations than the Pirelli tires.

You see that for most of the race drivers are miles off the pace, Then you see the odd laptime a few seconds faster as there allowed to push for a lap or 2. Its also not uncommon to see the cars at the back lapping faster than those at the front at stages as there able to push while the lead cars are not.

Also consider the amount of complaint from drivers relating to having to manage the tyres more in 2013.

Martin Brundle said on sky recently that he asked all the drivers about the 2013 tyres & they all said that they all said they “Hate” how much they have to manage the tyres this season.

they all said they “Hate” how much they have to manage the tyres this season.

So let’s have Michelin back.
Only they’ll charge more than Pirelli, and we’re all trying to save costs now. So, to hell with Michelin when it comes to spending, and yet Bernie gets very spendthrifty when it comes to converting the whole calendar into night races..

With both titles clinging by a whisker in favor of Vettel and Red Bull before the Indian GP, the possibility of both being clinched this week looks large. The more than 0.5s difference to the next runner/team seems to be becoming a standard now. However, it is astounding how the development of that Red Bull is going positive when everyone else behind them is trying to bridge the gap and not finding the right pieces. I predict another Vettel and Red Bull domination and hence the title being clinched by them respectively.

Disappointed by the gap Fernando has to Vettel (0.773s). But it is slightly encouraging that he is third. And it is also encouraging to see Hulk in fourth so expecting another good weekend for him and Sauber.

It’s no surprise to see Red Bull this far ahead. The rest have given up on 2013 whilst Red Bull are still pushing. Hopefully someone else will get in front at the start and we can at least have a little bit of excitement before it all works out for him.